2. INTRODUCTION

In November 2017, the federal government released the National Housing Strategy (NHS), a 10-year, $40 billion plan. The NHS sets out a renewed federal-provincial partnership to work together to achieve targets and outcomes, increase access to housing, reduce housing need and achieve better housing solutions across the spectrum.

The NHS includes three provincially-administered initiatives that provide significant flexibility to support provincial housing priorities:

• Ontario Priorities Housing Initiative: funding to address housing supply, repairs, and rental construction, affordability support, tenant supports and affordable homeownership. Program launched in fiscal 2019-20;

• Canada-Ontario Community Housing Initiative: funding to preserve and expand community housing supply, protect housing affordability for tenants, and support repair and regeneration of community housing stock. Program launched in fiscal 2019-20; and COHB: funding to provide portable housing payments directly to tenants to improve housing

• COHB: funding to provide portable housing payments directly to tenants to improve housing affordability.

On April 30, 2018, as part of the NHS, the government of Ontario and the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) signed a Bilateral Agreement that outlines these provincially-administered NHS initiatives and their associated funding.

On December 19, 2019, the federal and provincial governments announced the signing of an Addendum to the Bilateral Agreement that includes the mutually agreed-upon program design parameters for the COHB program. The COHB program is a provincially delivered, joint $1.46 billion federal-provincial housing allowance program. The program helps to increase the affordability of rental housing for eligible households in housing need that are on, or are eligible to be on, social housing waiting lists and to households in housing need living in community housing by providing a direct income-tested PHB.

The COHB program will build on Ontario’s Portable Housing Benefit – Special Priority Policy (PHB-SPP) program by providing housing assistance directly to additional priority household groups in need, and will reflect the diversity of housing markets in communities across Ontario.

With the assistance of Service Managers, households will complete COHB applications which will be sent to the Ministry of Finance (MOF) to determine eligibility. Eligible applicants will receive a monthly PHB based on the difference between 80% of the Average Market Rent (AMR) of the relevant service area and 30% of their Adjusted Family Net Income (AFNI). PHB payments will be issued by MOF directly to households and subject to an annual renewal process. Households that have been found to be eligible may also receive first and last month’s rent assistance directly from Service Managers, where appropriate.

Households who are approved to receive benefits under this program must consent to be removed from the social housing waiting list of their local Service Manager.

Until the COHB program is launched, Ontario will continue to provide assistance to survivors of domestic violence and human trafficking who are enrolled in the PHB-SPP program. When the COHB program becomes available, these households will be transitioned to the new program.